Gluten Free Bubble Up Pizza

I know I’ve said before that whatever life’s problem, gluten free biscuit dough is the solution. And while I love love love having biscuit dough in the freezer, ready at a moment’s notice to be a special treat or, say, an impromptu crust for a chicken pot pie (my favorite), gluten free pizza doughfrom GFOAS Bakes Bread is at least as versatile. And let’s be honest, when you add just another couple ingredients like cheese and sauce, it’s pretty easy to call it dinner. Even though I know that some of you (judging from Amazon reviews of Bakes Bread) have mixed feelings about yeast bread dough that enjoys a long slow rise in the refrigerator before being shaped, I promise that you’ll see how much of a time-saver it is when you start making this pizza dough a part of your weekly routine.

There are 6 step by step photos here, but not because this gluten free bubble up pizza recipe really needs 6 step by step photos to explain itself. It’s really because, well, the photos were pretty and it was either do a 6-photo collage—or be one of those food blogs that makes you scroll through 10,000 photos for 20 minutes before you actually get to the recipe itself. I hope it’s obvious what side of that issue I come out on…

So do yourself—and your family—a favor. Throw together the pizza dough for this recipe at the start of the week and let it rise until whatever day this week you need a fast meal on the table that you can basically guarantee that every member of the family will love. Serve it with a salad, and it’s a complete dinner. You could even just have everyone grab a fork and eat it right from the baking dish before running out the door to sports or meetings or whatever keeps your family busy. Embrace the make-ahead pizza dough!

*Note: If you prefer, rather than allowing the dough its first rise for at least 12 hours in a sealed container in the refrigerator before working with it, you may make and use the pizza dough on the same day. It will not be as easy to handle, however, but you can work with it. To use the dough the same day it is made, after making the dough, set the covered dough to rise in a warm, draft-free environment to allow it to rise to double its size (about 1 hour). Once it has doubled, place it in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes or until it is chilled. This will make it much easier to handle. Then, continue with the rest of the recipe instructions.

Directions

Grease a 9-inch x 12-inch oven-safe casserole dish, and cover the bottom of the dish with about 3/4-cup of the tomato sauce.

Cut off pieces of the risen and chilled pizza dough that are about 3/4-ounce each, and roll loosely into rounds about 1-inch in diameter. You don’t want to pack down the dough. Place each of the pieces of dough, about 3/4-inch apart, on top of the sauce in the casserole dish. Cover the dish with a piece of lightly oiled plastic wrap, and set aside in a warm, draft-free location until the pieces of dough have risen to about 1 1/2-times their original size (about 30 minutes). As the dough is nearing the end of its rise, preheat your oven to 350°F.

Once the dough has finished rising, uncover the dish, mix the Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese with 2 cups of tomato sauce and cover the risen pizza dough completely with the sauce. Add more sauce if necessary to completely cover the dough. Sprinkle about half of the grated mozzarella cheese evenly over the top, sprinkle with about half of the torn basil, and place in the preheated oven. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, sprinkle evenly with the remaining mozzarella cheese and return to the oven. Continue to bake until the cheese is melted and the pizza dough is cooked through (about another 10 minutes). Remove from the oven, allow to sit briefly for the cheese to set, sprinkle with the remaining torn basil, and serve.

Gluten-Free on a Shoestring [Second Edition]:

Will this recipe work without expandex? I love in Ontario Canada and can’t find it anywhere :( (however oddly enough its manufactured in Ontario)

Emma MacEachern

August 20, 2014 at 2:55 PM

OMG!! I just found my dinner plans for the next two days!!! (The bubble up pizza, and the carnitas)

penflorida

August 18, 2014 at 2:10 PM

Coincidence? I made the pizza dough on Sunday and was thrilled with the way the starter rose. (side note, I’ve found the best warm place for rising dough in a Florida air-conditioned house is on the bottom shelf of a cabinet with under-cabinet lighting). Anyway, I didn’t have room in the refrigerator for the four batches of dough I made and thought I could put them in the wine cooler (41 degrees) instead of the refrigerator (36 degrees) overnight so I could make them all today, Monday. Apparently, 41 was not cold enough, the dough doubled in about two hours and was bubbly all over. I went ahead and baked the pizza crusts because I was afraid it would all go flat from over-rising. Is that possible? I was wondering what would happen if I didn’t go ahead and bake them?

I have found weighing everything is key and absolutely LOVE the GFOAS bread. I think a lot of us think, “Oh, I’ll just change this or that” and it’ll be fine, because we know what we’re doing, right? Or we did before we went gluten-free! :)

Thanks for innovating and moving gluten-free baking forward!

Deb

August 18, 2014 at 1:14 PM

I have had no success with the pizza dough after 3 batches. : (( Way too thick and never rises. I have done it exactly as stated. Temp in my refrigerator was checked. It there does not seem to be enough liquid, but I am too disappointed to try another batch… The pizza pics look amazing, very jealous!

Hi, anna, you can try that, but I don’t really recommend placing them too close together as they are likely to burn before they cook all the way through. They do rise pretty close together and many of them touch as is.

Jennifer S.

August 18, 2014 at 11:39 AM

I totally love this pizza dough and this looks fun and yummy! thanks for all you do – it is greatly appreciated!